Darling of Big Oil and Enemy to the RFS Comes to Ethanol Country Trying to Pump Up Ernst’s Failing Campaign
Senator Joni Ernst doesn’t know the break-even price of soybeans, and today she’s showing how she sold out corn farmers by dragging Big Oil’s #1 booster into the heart of ethanol country to fuel the final days of her campaign.
Ted Cruz – one of the only senators more beholden to Big Oil than Senator Ernst – has helped lead the effort to repeal the RFS and decimate Iowa’s critical ethanol industry. Cruz was even the senator who secured “explicit promises” from EPA head Andrew Wheeler to abuse the RFS – a fossil fuel lobbyist that Ernst voted to confirm. Since then, Ernst has spent months under pressure from farmers to demand Wheeler’s immediate resignation, but she has refused to do so.
“It’s bad enough that Senator Ernst doesn’t know the price of soybeans, but now she’s selling out Iowa’s corn industry by flying Big Oil’s number one booster into the heart of ethanol country,” said Jeremy Busch, Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson. “When Ernst is forced to turn to the darling of Big Oil to fuel the final days of the election, her campaign has clearly run out of gas. Iowans are ready for a new senator who will never sell out their farms to Big Oil donors in Washington.”
This is far from the first time Ernst has turned to Big Oil to pump up her campaign. Big Oil allies launched and bankrolled her 2014 campaign, has fueled her campaign with over $520,000 in contributions, and even hosted an Iowa town hall for Ernst in August. Ernst was even caught raking in “thousands of dollars from a large oil company” abusing the RFS to boost its corporate profits by $100 million.